The effect of home visiting programmes on uptake of childhood immunization: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of home visiting programmes on the uptake of childhood immunization.

Methods: A systematic review was carried out of the literature of controlled studies evaluating home visiting programmes involving at least one post-natal visit, which included tasks within the remit of British health visiting and reporting outcomes relevant to British health visiting. Eleven studies were considered, nine of which used socio-economically disadvantaged families.

Recommending exercise to healthy older adults: the preparticipation evaluation and exercise prescription.

The office-based preparticipation evaluation for older adults addresses cardiovascular status, muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and agility. The Kasch pulse-recovery test and the sit-and-reach test are practical methods for evaluating aerobic capacity and flexibility, respectively. Other measures, such as assessment of body composition or bone density, help establish goals and provide baselines for measuring exercise progress.

Cancer prevalence and survivorship issues: analyses of the 1992 National Health Interview Survey.

Background/methods: Relatively little is known about the size and makeup of the growing population of cancer survivors or about the social implications of a diagnosis of cancer. To explore these issues, we analyzed cancer survivorship information from the 1992 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and resulting cancer prevalence estimates were compared with those derived from cancer registry data.

Results: According to the NHIS, there were an estimated 7.

Wilms' tumor: a 25-year review of the role of preoperative chemotherapy.

Purpose: This 25-year population based, single institution review was conducted to investigate the impact of preoperative chemotherapy on surgical and histological staging in patients with Wilms' tumors.

Results: Forty-nine patients under the age of 15 years were identified from case notes to have had histologically verified Wilms' tumors over the 25-year period from January 1972 to December 1996. Twenty-six patients were treated initially with preoperative chemotherapy, 23 with immediate surgery.

Primary Ki-1-positive T-cell lymphoma of the brain in a child.

A unique case of a female child with primary Ki-1-positive T-cell lymphoma of the brain is reported. Her clinical course is discussed and the previous literature is reviewed.

Cellular proliferation in the placenta in normal human pregnancy and pregnancy complicated by intrauterine growth restriction.

Objective: To determine the incidence of cellular proliferation in the placenta throughout the three trimesters of normal pregnancy, and in the third trimester of pregnancy complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

Methods: Placental samples were obtained from 17 first-trimester pregnancies, 9 second-trimester pregnancies, 33 uncomplicated third-trimester pregnancies, and 21 third-trimester pregnancies complicated by IUGR. These samples were then stained by immunohistochemical technique, using the monoclonal antibody MIB-1.

Ondansetron is not superior to moderate dose metoclopramide in the prevention of post-operative nausea and vomiting after minor gynaecological surgery.

Peri-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), remain a considerable problem. Ondansetron is being promoted currently as the drug of choice for the prevention and treatment of PONV. Experiments to investigate efficacy of ondansetron in PONV have been made with placebo or single doses of other drugs, e.

The BRIDGE project: bridging the gap between university and schools. Being Responsive to Individual Differences in General Education.

BRIDGE (Being Responsive to Individual Differences in General Education) is a partnership between university faculty and two elementary schools, focusing on the collaborative practices and programs in general and special education. University faculty have adopted new roles as facilitators, rather than "experts," in working side by side with teachers seeking to increase their sense of professional efficacy. Teachers at the two sites collaborate with university faculty and each other in acquiring new information and practices within four initiative areas.

Invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b disease in elderly nursing home residents: two related cases.

We investigated two fatal cases of invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection in a community nursing home in western Sydney, Australia. Two elderly women had lived in the same room, and the onset of their illness was 5 days apart. Hib isolates from blood cultures showed identical profiles by pulsed field gel electrophoresis.

Glycophorin A mutations and risk of secondary leukaemia in patients treated for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Survivors of child acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) have a higher than expected risk of developing secondary acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The glycophorin A (GPA) mutation assay measures the frequency of variant NO and NN erythrocytes in MN heterozygotes. A raised variant frequency (Vf) has been shown in patients treated with chemotherapy known to be at risk of secondary leukaemia.

A randomized study of ondansetron syrup in children: evaluation of taste acceptability and tolerance.

Ondansetron, a highly selective 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, is available in an intravenous (IV) formulation and tables, but syrup would be particularly useful in children. As chemotherapy can affect taste perceptions, this study was undertaken to determine the preference between two flavors of ondansetron syrup in children undergoing chemotherapy. Fifty-nine children, randomized into a multicenter, double-blind, crossover study, each received 5 mg/m2 of IV ondansetron daily before chemotherapy.

A computer model of dorsal cochlear nucleus pyramidal cells: intrinsic membrane properties.

Manis [P. B. Manis, J.

A Framework for Regional Agroecosystems Characterization Using the National Resources Inventory.

An agroecological framework is used to examine the relations among natural resources and agriculture. Spatial representation of selected agroecosystems characteristics was accomplished using the National Resources Inventory (NRI). Natural resource and anthropogenic variables from the NRI were spatially aggregated to produce maps showing the regional variability in area-weighted values of agroecosystem components.

Do mutations at the glycophorin A locus in patients treated for childhood Hodgkin's disease predict secondary leukaemia?

Childhood Hodgkin's disease has a high cure rate but second cancers are common, related to treatment and perhaps genetic predisposition. The glycophorin A (GPA) mutation assay measures the frequency of NO and NN mutant erythrocytes of MN blood-group heterozygous individuals. Mutant frequencies in Hodgkin's disease patients were compared with controls.

A computer model of amplitude-modulation sensitivity of single units in the inferior colliculus.

A computer model is presented of a neural circuit that replicates amplitude-modulation (AM) sensitivity of cells in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC). The ICC cell is modeled as a point neuron whose input consists of spike trains from a number of simulated ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) chopper cells. Input to the VCN chopper cells is provided by simulated spike trains from a model of the auditory periphery [Hewitt et al.

Behavioural effects of scopolamine and the TRH analogue RX77368 on radial arm maze performance in the rat.

Effects of repeated intracerebroventricular administration of the thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) analogue, RX77368 (3,3'-dimethyl-TRH, 2 μg, once daily), on a scopolamine-induced performance deficit in an eight-arm radial maze were evaluated in adult rats. Scopolamine (0.3 mg/kg i.

Hydration of the fat-free body mass in children and adults: implications for body composition assessment.

Previous studies have shown that children have a higher aqueous fraction of the fat-free body mass (FFM) than young adults. In older adults, methodological differences among studies limit evaluation of potential age-related differences in the water content of the FFM (W/FFM). Therefore, we determined W/FFM in 28 healthy white prepubescent children (age = 5-10 yr), 31 young adults (age = 22-39 yr), and 62 older adults (age = 65-84 yr), using 2H2O dilution to estimate total body water and a multicomponent approach based on body density, total body water, and regional bone mineral density to estimate FFM.

Regularity of cochlear nucleus stellate cells: a computational modeling study.

This article reports on a computational modeling study designed to investigate the generation of the transient chopper response of cochlear nucleus stellate cells. The model is based on a simulation of the auditory periphery which feeds a generic stellate-cell model. Physiological recordings of transient chopper units in response to short, best frequency, tone bursts show a brief initial period (typically < 10 ms) of rapid rate adaptation as evidenced by a rapid rise in mean interspike interval.